I quit my job! Notes on the art of recklessness…

I am loving me some recklessness right now! I feel so full of the giddy joys of summer that I had to write this down, lest the feeling starts to fade as the days draw in…

Before we get stuck in:

I like to think I usually write from a place of intention and semi-well thought out usefulness. I try to provide as much value to my readers as I can and create posts that I think will help them with something. I research and plan, carefully laying everything out in a user-friendly way (as user-friendly as my brain allows in any case…), neatly editing images, triple-checking spelling (although what is it with that one typo that always gets through – ugh! Why?! ) Just a heads up – this is not that kind of post. Expect major brain dumpage ahead…

This (I predict, somewhat rambling) post is totally off the cuff and is in no way researched or planned out. It isn’t a how-to or instructional, it sure as heck ain’t SEO optimised and I severely doubt there is anything in here that anybody would be actively Googling anyway, so let’s assume that there is a certain amount of destiny and/or serendipity at work here, and if you are here reading this now, it is because the fates have deemed that you are supposed to be here reading this now, and therefore YOU need to hear something in this story 🙂

The Story

Here’s the thing – I had felt like I had it pretty sorted, slow living, intentional living, simple living, call it what you will – this year I have been ON it… well, I thought I had at any rate. Then this summer I went away to Europe, and slowed down even further. I had planned to take work with me, write, promote, do some studying…  but I take my own medicine:

What good is it to tell you lovely folk out there to unplug, switch off and recuperate and then wear myself down to the bone? 

Let me tell you, this summer has been a dream, I swam in wild rivers, I climbed mountains, I pondered great questions, I gazed at stars, I stood in the pounding surf of the Atlantic, I felt touched by and connected to the earth in a way I haven’t felt in far too long.

Back from vanlife-ing it around Spain and Portugal, we were home for all of 3 or 4 days before we felt the urge to jump back in the bus and escape again, this time heading on down to Cornwall, and it was here that I decided to hand in my notice, which to be honest, isn’t even that big of a deal – I actually do this every time I come to Cornwall. It feels like home to me, and each and every time we are there we start thinking about how ace it would be just to stay put, and I decide I’m going to quit my job. It’s become a bit of a tradition…

Only this time I meant it.

Sometimes you have to just jump…

We talked to and fro, starting out as we usually do – “There must be a way we can make this work…!”- and slowly but surely progressing to “Ok, why not? Let’s just go for it….” 

There comes a time when talking just isn’t enough. When you burn so fiercely with the need to do something reckless and just jump and see where you fall. That time for me has come.

Do something reckless!

Simon and I have 2 settings:

1 – Agonise over every tiny detail for eternity, make a decision, maybe…change our minds 1000 times, put idea on hold. Return to it later, agonise some more… drive everybody around us slowly mad with our indecision.

2 – Aaaand this…

There is no in-between.

Can you relate? Do you know anybody so encumbered with 2 such opposing personality traits? The funny thing is that we generally know when we’re onto a goodun, because we slip into setting 2. When we look back over the years we have been together, some of our very best decisions have been the seemingly stupid ones. The gambles, the times we took a chance.

“Fortune favours the brave”

Latin proverb

Whether you believe that or not, in my experience, good things often come from wild places. From those gut decisions and instinctive “I just know this is the right thing to do” moments. 

Ready or not…

The idea was always for me to build up my online business, take the kids out of school and go travelling whenever we can. But the plan was for us to do it in a sensible order.

Let me state plainly: I love this blog, but lucrative, it is not.

TLS is young, and I’ve been learning as I go, working out how to do the techy stuff (sooo not my thing) learning how to monetise, get my page views up etc… it’s fascinating and enjoyable and an exciting challenge, but I am simply not yet at a point where I can replace my income with it.

So we did what any rational human being does in these circumstances. We started collecting “signs”…

• We saw a house called “Runfrit”  A sign!

• A small globe washed into our hands in the sea. A sign! The whole world is at our fingertips! A sign! A sign!

• Last but not least we walked through a field of clover: “OK, if we find a 4 leaf clover I’ll do it, I’ll go back to work and hand in my notice this week.” Within moments, Simon had stooped down and plucked this from the endless sea of green around us:

Well, that’s that then, eh? Now if I go against my word I’ll be angering the Gods or something…

2020 Vision

So it’s done. I’ve become the kind of woman who makes life-changing decisions based on plant-based genetic anomalies. I’m working the rest of this term (I work in a preschool – can’t miss Christmas in a preschool!) and then I’m off. Not only that but we are going to go away in the new year for a couple of months in the van to kick off our 2020 Vision in style! 

It the strangest thing. I started The Life Spotters in 2018, giving myself 2 years to totally change my life, to start really living in a way that was true to me, to be fully intentional in my choices, and design a life I could look back on and be proud of. And little by little it is all falling into place. I know it is, because I can feel it with every cell in my body. This is the right thing. I don’t feel any fear or anxiety, I just feel free. I feel like everything is coming into alignment and opportunities are everywhere.

I guess what I’m saying is that if there are things holding you back, maybe, just maybe, don’t be afraid to let them go. Free yourself. Take a chance. If you have an urge to do something reckless, if an idea or a dream is burning inside you, maybe just go for it… Not because I’m telling you to (Please, oh please, don’t quit your job because some random on the internet did and it seemed to make her happy!) do it because you know it’s right in your very core. Whether it’s leaving your job, moving house, writing a book – whatever is calling you – listen.

I knew the time was right for change, but what I didn’t know was how happy this change would make me. Living in alignment with my soul, my true values, my life purpose. I feel like I need to keep pinching myself… This is my life. And life is good.

What will you do with yours?